Friday, December 15, 2006

I think his favorite word might be "inaudible".

Okay, this is now my second post about Matsuzaka after saying I was getting sick and tired of all the press coverage. The problem is, the press coverage is just so great. We've already discussed the awesomeness of the new translator, and the Globe even has an article on it. (Doesn't one of the Sox trainers speak Japanese? He used to translate for Nomo and Ohka, right?) But what I like is that the official transcript is even worse than the horrible translation. Some excerpts:

Q. Have you thought about pitching to Ichiro and Hideki Matsui?

DAISUKE MATSUZAKA: Inaudible.

Q. What was the turning point that made negotiations?

DAISUKE MATSUZAKA: Inaudible.

Q. Is there any player that you are looking forward to meet that's on the Red Sox, any particular player you've always followed?

DAISUKE MATSUZAKA: As a member of the Boston Red Sox, to contribute to the World Champions, I'd like to meet inaudible.

Q. I wanted to get from both of your perspectives what the last 30 days have been like for you guys, and in particular yesterday, from list off to touchdown here, and also, John Henry, did the plane make it back to Florida to get you, or did you have to go commercial?

DAISUKE MATSUZAKA: Very many interesting things have happened in my life, waiting inaudible.

Man, he's just like you or me. Very many interesting things have happened in my life, waiting inaudible, as well.

7 comments:

I agree the press conference was very difficult to follow and as Grieve pointed out, D-Mat would go on and on for like 40 seconds and then the translator would say "is happy to be here." It was kind of like a Wayne's World scene.

But I was half kdding when I said the media would be all over it. I figured there might be a comment in the end of a story, but to have an entire article? And the amazing thing is the attitude that some of these writers have is almost as if they are entitled to more stories/info. They should count their blessings every morning that they cover this team and all the hoopla that surrounds them/ I imagine the beat writers of the Pirates, marlins and mariners must just take the winter off.

And, of course Damon did speak out. A bit more professional in the past (maybe he is over it), but of course he could not avoid the dig "they finished in third place."

Of course for all the bad things that happened to the Red Sox last year, the Yankees won exactly one more playoff game than the Sox.

Damon was very aware of the Red Sox/Yankees huge rivalry and what a hero he was to Sox fans. He left for money that he will never spend. He played everyone for everything he could and that is why the Yankees will continue to not win World Series. They keep picking up guys that are looking for paychecks. Hell, even Pettitte went back there for the money. Their acquisition of Giambi was the beginning of this trend for the Yankees. They dumped Tino Martinez flat on his ass for the steroid freak.

Is thet because his gold digger wife is going to take it all from him in their divorce?

I actually never really liked that argument that a player already has more than he needs or will ever spend. It takes a very special player and even special circumstances to take a hometown discount. And who knows how their financial situations will play out. Cecil Fielder made $50MM in his career. Tyson over $200MM. sure these are extreme examples, but so are the cases of players taking much less $$ to stay where they are "comfortable."

I'm kind of torn on this Siebel deal. He seemed to be progressing nicely in his return from injury. If given the chance there is just as much chance he could pitch as effective as Donnelly. But Donnelly is a proven guy and the Pen does need help.

Donnelly: cons- Probably cheater (ejected for pine tar, had that extra ball in his back pocket in that one horrible Sox game in June)- The Angels announcers gushed about him so much that I've grown to hate him.

Little known fact on Donnelly. He was a replacement player during the strike at teh beginning of the 1995 season. As such, he is not eligible to join the union and does not get a share of the liscnesing money (about $20-30K per player, per year).

Other notable replacement players - Kevin Millar and Lou Merloni. They alos are generally not on officially sanctioned memorabilia, like when the Angels won the WS, his name was not listed on the official T-shirt.

One other guy from the Angels that I miss is Ben Weber and his funky delivery.

speaking of Angels, the Sox signed JC Romero. He had a terrible, terrible year last year, but he has been quite successful in MN. I am not sure if his velocity was down or something, but why not stockpile arms? The funny thing is I was just looking at the list of available FA pitchers on Thursday and his name, along with a few others, jumped out at me as "hey why not take a chance on him." Relief performance is so highly variable from year to year, these guys are as good a bet as any. Some of the other names - Mike Dejean, Guardado, to name a couple.